Born of Legend (21 page)

“Um … I don't think this is a good idea.”

Jay laughed. “Look at that face! I think we scare him.”

Mary grinned and elbowed Ana. “He should be afraid of us. We come with a herd of male relatives, but … we're harmless. We're actually here to set you up with our sister.”

Jullien scowled, even more terrified now. “Excuse me?”

The twins took him by the arms. “Mary's right. We saw how Shara looked at you. She practically licked you all over.”

Mary nodded. “She wants you and we're here to make you presentable to her.”

“Pardon?” he repeated.

Jay tsked at her sister. “Listen to him talk. I could hear that accent all day. He's so proper! Just makes my motor hum. We should record that and play it at night. You think my husband would mind?”

Jullien choked. “Taras … please, I … um, have something burning in the kitchen.”

“No, you don't. But that's a nice try.” Mary grinned at him, exposing her fangs. “Just give in. It'll be a lot easier and less painful for you.” She glanced to her sisters. “I'll grab a shirt for him and shoes.”

Jullien let out a groan as he realized there was no way to protest this. They were not about to give up. “You're really not going to let me out of this, are you?”

“Not on your life.” Jay grinned.

He kept trying to break free without harming them. “Don't you three have children and males of your own to torture?”

“Yeah,” Jay said, “but you're new male steak. We have to break you in for our sister. Get you well seasoned.”

“Besides, I have no male of my own. So I have to torture you.” Mary scowled up at him. “Are you all right? You look rather green.”

“You do realize that I've seldom been around females.”

“Why? Are you gay?” Mary blinked innocently. “If you are, we have a cousin…”

“No. I come from a predominantly male family. On both sides. I've seldom interacted with the females, and whenever I did, it wasn't a positive experience.”

“Oh. Poor you.” Mary patted his arm. “You're in for an education. But we'll try and be gentle.”

That might have carried more weight had Mary not punctuated it with a sinister laugh.

Little did Jullien know that they had no intention of showing him mercy.

Of
any
kind.

Rather they spent the next couple of hours getting him groomed like some prized pet. They shoved and pushed and pulled and prodded until he was near insane from it all. He'd never been so groped or lovingly malehandled in his life. They gave him no choice in anything. Not even how they styled his hair or shaved his face.

Nor would they let him see what they were doing to him. He really felt like a show beast before a performance.

Every time he began protesting, Mary patted him on the arm. “It doesn't matter what you think, precious. We're doing this for Ushara. Just think about the benefits to come. I promise, she'll put a giant smile on your face.”

He snorted.

Honestly, he found Ushara's sisters strangely amusing and quirky. They were a stark contrast to their much more serious-minded older sister, and he wondered why Ushara lacked their sense of whimsy.

Had she ever been like them?

And if so, what had stolen her smile?

It saddened him that she wasn't more like them. And the longer he was with them, the more he realized just how guarded and closed off she was in comparison.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't imagine her like them.

Bemused, Jullien watched as the twins fought over his clothes.

Oxana rolled her eyes at Mary and shoved a pair of pants back onto the rack. “If you put him in
those
, you'll sterilize him. No male needs pants that tight. Good gracious! That's not sexy. It's obscene!”

“I disagree. A body like that should be flaunted! Why hide it?”

“'Cause one day Shara might want to have another child. You don't want to lower his sperm count. Good grief! Besides, if he tries to sit in those, he'll rack himself and be out of commission for the night. Think about it!”

They turned to Jay to settle their disagreement.

“Well, Ana's
not
wrong. But Mary has a point, too. He does have an edible ass and arms. And his abs … if my Bar looked like
that
, I'd
never
leave my bed. I'm just saying, I'd have more kids than Ana by now.”

The three of them turned to stare at him.

Yeah, okay, he felt naked, even though he was fully clothed.

Scowling, Ana handed him a jacket then snatched it back as she changed her mind for the tenth time.

Mary handed him another one.

Jullien hesitated before he took it and shrugged it on.

They screwed their faces up to study him like a lab experiment.

Yeah, he just couldn't envision Ushara part of their group, participating in this lunacy. “Was Ushara always so serious and stern?”

Oxana stepped forward to adjust his coat for him. “No. She was actually a lot of fun back when she ran her own crew. That's why they named her Star Skream.”

“Star Skream?” What a peculiar call sign.

Chewing her lip, Mary handed him a different, longer jacket to put on. “She was so reckless and daring as a pilot, they say that you could hear the stars actually scream as she blazed past them in her ship. She would run against any Leaguer, anywhere, anytime. Fearless.”

“Ridiculously so,” Jay concurred. “She was a nut. Trajen kept her on report constantly for it. Then poof! After Chaz died … She, the best pilot in the Gort Nation, grounded herself so that Vasili wouldn't be an orphan.”

“And she never really smiled again,” Ana finished the sentence. “Not until you came along. She smiles a lot around you.”

Jay nodded. “Gavin said that she even flew to rescue you. It's the only time she's been at the helm since Chaz died. Weird, isn't it? She took the helm to get you and Vas out of Steradore.”

“That's why we're doing this.” Mary wrinkled her nose. “Still not the right jacket.”

She handed him another one.

Groaning, he changed.

Again.

They all three gasped, then clapped in joyous unison. Mary even did a little dance of happiness.

“What do you think?” Mary stepped back with an impish grin.

Relieved that it might be finally coming to an end, Jullien allowed them to turn him to face the mirror behind him. But the moment he focused on his reflection he was wholly unprepared for what he saw there.

It was no longer the bearded face of the ragged survivor Dagger Ixur.

That was the flawlessly groomed image of the bastard Tahrs Jullien eton Anatole.

In one heartbeat, his past slammed into him with a furious fist.

Bitter, horrid memories tore through him and unbalanced him. He didn't see the shopping parlor they were in. He saw the gilded and gaudy palace ballrooms. Heard the mocking laughter and the constant rapid-fire biting criticisms that came at him in thinly veiled barbed witticisms. The sneers and fetid backbiting that had gone on for years.

All that self-loathing and hatred came back with a vengeance.

And it shattered him.

“Dagger?”

The walls closed in on him as he staggered back and tore the jacket off, trying to catch his balance. But he couldn't. Everywhere he looked, he saw
that
hated face of a prince who disgusted him. Heard the voices that mocked and insulted everything he was and told him that he had no right to live.

Unable to stand it, he ran for the door.

*   *   *

Ushara left her office, intending to go home, make a nice quiet dinner for Vasili, and spend a night doing nothing.

But as she left the building, she almost collided with her youngest sister who met her in a screeching panic, that was followed by the twins running up behind her, and their equal ear-piercing tizzy as they piled on with Mary.

Oh, this can't be good.

“Dear God, what'd you do now?”

Jay bit her lip before Mary blurted out the answer. “We broke your boyfriend!”

Ushara scowled. “Excuse me?”

Breathless with her panic, Oxana nodded. “It's true. We were only trying to help. We took him out to thank him for what he did, and we got him a haircut and shave.”

“Some clothes,” Jay chimed in.

“And he ran like Coreła was about to ride up his ass with her thorny hammer.”

Oxana nodded again. “We went to his condo and he's not there. We've no idea where else to look. But he was really, really upset.”

“Really upset!” Jay repeated for emphasis.

“We're so sorry,” Mary breathed. “We didn't mean to break him. It was going all good. Then … blam! He broke. No warning or nothing.”

“We'll go watch Vasili for you.” Jay pushed Ushara toward the street. “All night if we have to. I'll take him to my house and keep him. Just please … find Jullien. Fix whatever we did wrong. Jullien's a sweetheart.”

Now Mary was nodding. “We had no idea. Please tell him that we're sorry.”

Ushara hugged them. “Okay, I'll find him.”

But the problem was, she had no idea where to look either. She hated to call Trajen again. Yet what choice did she have? It was a big station. Without Trajen, she didn't know where to begin a search.

He's going to kill me.

Both of them.

Pulling out her link, she cringed as she pressed the code for Trajen.

He answered immediately.

“Hey, boss. I hate to bug you. Jullien's gone MIA again, and I've no idea where to look. Can you point me in the right direction? My sisters accidentally upset him, and I just want to make sure he's okay.”

He appeared at her side so fast that it startled her.

She hated whenever he teleported in. It creeped her out completely. “Little warning next time, please?”

A phantom hand tickled her neck.

“Really
not
funny, boss.”

Trajen snorted, then went completely still. Until a strange expression came over his face. “What the hell did they do?”

Before she could answer, he grabbed her hand and ran with her through the station.

Ushara had no idea where they were headed until he took her to the oldest part of their base—up to the abandoned section where no one went anymore. This area had been closed off and abandoned for years. Probably since before she was born. Honestly, she'd never been here. She'd only passed by the area back when she'd first toured the station during her officer orientation. No one should have access here.

How Jullien had gotten in was beyond her.

Unless he hacked in and had bypassed the security …

While it still had a breathable atmosphere, it was thinly mixed. And it wasn't the safest place to be. Dust, debris, and cobwebs covered rusted out beams and deserted hallways. The entire section had been sealed off generations ago after an accident no one remembered or had even bothered to record had rendered it unsafe.

It was so eerie here. Silent and cold. Lonely.

Desolate.

Yet high up on the rickety scaffolding of an old building that had partially fallen down, silhouetted against the darkness of space sat an unwavering shadow in front of the shielded windows that looked out on the large uninhabitable gas planet the station hovered over. He was so still that at first glance, he appeared part of the scenery.

Until you looked closer and realized that was actually a ragged dark brown coat that trailed from the beam. And a pair of well-worn boots.

No …

“Jullien?” she called out.

He didn't move.

“Wait here.” Trajen carefully began the dangerous, steep climb to where Jullien sat without moving.

Even though Trajen had told her to wait, she edged a bit closer. But there was only so far she could go without the risk of falling through something. It was a terrifying hazard that Jullien had traversed to get up there. And it made her wonder how many times he'd done such since she'd brought him here. From the looks of fresh tracks around her, this might have become a fairly common practice for her prince.

With a grace that was amazing for someone so tall, Trajen quickly maneuvered to Jullien's side on the narrow beam. “Hey, buddy. What'cha doing?”

Still Jullien didn't move. He sat quietly, staring out at the stars through the clear windows. “You know what I'm doing. You know what I'm thinking.”

Sitting down beside him on the thin rail where Jullien was precariously perched, Trajen drew a ragged breath. “It's a long drop down to the station floor from here.”

“I always wanted to fly.”

Trajen hissed and placed the heel of his hand to his temple. “Damn, you have some fucked-up shit in your head.”

“I know. You should live in my thoughts full time like I have to.”

“No, thanks. I have my own fun house filled with twisted mirrors to deal with.”

Snorting, Jullien handed him the bottle of Tondarion Fire he was drinking.

After taking a swig of the potent whisky, Trajen returned it to him. “I'll never mock your boots again.”

Jullien sighed. “Yeah. I didn't realize just how screwed up I was.… I mean, I knew. I just had no idea.”

“Don't beat yourself up, kid. Trust me. You got plenty of others willing to do it for you. No need in you doing it for them, for free.”

“Can't help it.” Jullien took a drink. “I was fine as I was. Then I looked and saw—” he scraped his claws against his cheek hard enough to leave a red mark on his skin. He grimaced in disgust. “Nothing ever changes, does it?”

Ignoring the question, Trajen hesitated before he spoke in a quiet tone. “I know your pain, little brother. You asked me about my eyes and what turned them dark, and you were right. I know the bitter cost of surviving what should have killed us. Of committing sins so wretched that you know there is no way back from them. They have seared scars on our souls so deep that they're craters in our hearts, and have left damage so severe we will never be the same. No apologies can be made for what we've done. Not to our adversaries or enemies, and definitely not to their innocent families who mourn for them, or to our loved ones we hurt. And no excuse we make to ourselves will ever quiet our screaming consciences. No redemption is possible for the likes of us. We are damned by our own hands and we know it. We consigned ourselves to hell and for what? This miserable existence of pain and suffering from which there is no end?”